Matt D

Watch them pick Stevie Ray.

I liked it a lot when they were brawling, but at the same time, a lot of it felt a little amorphous and it was just painful early on when Chavo was trying oblique submission moves. Post match must have driven Boesch nuts since there was stuff flying all over the arena.

I really enjoyed the house show with Bruno vs Patera and Backlund vs Larry. Also, the History of the WWF Title CV is really fun when Heenan is commentating on an Ivan Koloff match or whatever.

In some ways, the more interesting What Ifs are What If Steamboat Doesn't Take Time off? or What if Butch Reed becomes IC Champ instead?

After Savage's turn in 89, they did a lot of Title vs Title matches with Ultimate Warrior that ended in countout wins for Savage (I think with Rude distracting Warrior). At least one of these isn on youtube because it was at MSG. They also did a bunch of Harlem streetfights with Bad News Brown which sound kind of fascinating.

I'm sure the PPV would have ended with Hogan coming out and crushing everyone and celebrating in the win even though Dibiase had the title.

Keep us posted on what you watch (and think) on NWAonDemand.

Unless I did my math wrong, I don't think we've had this one before. Let me put it this way, I'd be really surprised if we had this previously and it hadn't made the DVDVR set, because it's one of the best sub-ten minute matches I've seen in a while. They compress the shine in this to one line that Jake says over the house mic, which is sort of awesome and unique. From there, Slater cheapshots him and they go straight to heat, and it's brutal and bloody, with Jake blading a gusher. Jake comes back with the object and they loop into an awesome finish. Great stuff.

The strapping of the Nightmares was great. Nightmare #2 runs in to take it for his partner after a number of shots. After one, he dashes back out. Hilarious.

It's interesting, because we know pretty much exactly what happens if Bryan doesn't get injured.

It was striking how strong and passionate the language used was and how, ultimately, despite how huge a tragedy it was, little Owen's death ultimately mattered in the grand scheme of things. Like the guys said, the highest ratings were still yet to come. Russo and his over the top theatrics wasn't penalized in the least. He'd get more and more power as the year went on (albeit in another company but not just). Really, in the grand scheme, the most important thing might have been the Tonight Show stuff, as crazy as that seems (and maybe the backlash on Kilborn?). Like you covered, WWE wasn't really out money due to insurance and the lawsuit. The ill will towards wrestling for this didn't last long.

They took out all of the offense Rikishi got on Hunter.

Part of the problem is that if WWE books someone beneath the title into that role, they then book them as undeserving as champion so it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. The exception was probably JBL.

You can't handle my "Best Hot Tag" poll.

Is it just the threshold for making a profit?

Also, there was about five minutes of foolish excitement for his win before people thought better of it with the Orton turn.

Not necessarily? Ambrose --> Styles --> Cena --> Wyatt --> Orton --> Mahal This is not necessarily a logical progression.

Can you still sign up for month-to-month if you aren't already?

Hey, you know what? We should make another (different) list, guys. Has one year been long enough to recover from the trauma? Think of all we learned!

This is exactly where I am too. Everything before the kimura (and JR getting pissy about calling it that). The arm came up a few times in the stretch. You can rationalize it's how he fipped out of the top rope Dragon Suplex, etc. There was one lariat blocked because of it, but then he just turns around and does it again. Given how vulnerable Seven was, they went too long in the stretch. That even goes without saying that they made poor JR say "Dragon Suplexes on the apron are debilitating," but I suppose that kind of worked as a late match equalizer to set up a finishing stretch. The stretch was just too extended. Frankly, if they wanted to keep Seven strong, playing into the injury more as why he lost was the way to go. Then they would have had a more viable challenger for Dunne in as there'd be the question of whether a healthy Seven could beat him. As it was, the injury sort of faded away towards the end and Dunne just ate all of Seven's stuff anyway, it made Seven seem ineffectual. Still, Dunne does so many things well for a 23 year old. I just wish that he realized that he's in an age of bad habits.

1.) I went through the Newsletters a few years ago and the steroid stuff week in and week out is so tedious looking back. I understand how important it was at the time and that the general health is important, but it's a slog. 2.) Papa Shango, more than anything else, was the reason I stopped watching heavily in 92. So add me to that list. I think I fall under the "it was just too gross for me." category. The Black Ooze and the Puking. I was fine with the fire and the voodoo injuries. I think Kris tried to get across the difference in that it wasn't necessarily a realism thing so much as an "not entertaining and embarrassingly unpleasant." thing.

What's most striking so far on Drew's return is how natural everything seems. He's doing this incredibly high impact stuff, just whipping guys around, smashing them all over, and it seems like the most natural thing in the world. I always appreciate when something doesn't come off as entirely rote. I can appreciate learned behavior and ritual as much as the next guy, but if you come in at a slightly odd angle and make something seem natural and believable, like it's a unique, one time only occurrence, it stands out. If you can do that and also have it look like a million bucks, all the better. For the most part, both guys had that here. Lorcan flying back into the ring early in the match and just unloading was one such moment, the slaps late in the match (that brought a smile to my face despite myself) was another. The way that Drew maneuvered around Lorcan getting a foot up in the ropes at the very end. The execution on the sit up out of the corner, the way he caught him on the dive and just flipped him over in the most matter of fact way. I didn't love the blockbuster, but other than that, I couldn't find a ton of fault in this for what it was.

Lothario stuff was very cool. I have no idea where he was between 81 and 83 but this was him presented as his first time back in the territory. He gave what was obviously a great promo in Spanish. For a guy who Gary Hart said some pretty choice things about, he certainly could portray himself as humble. The match was a really fun six or seven minutes. Gordman comes off as the world's second best Satanico. He was a guy who was a star in CA and he knows how to work like a star. He really made the King of the Mountain work by being super aggressive with it at two points in the match (including to start out). I loved that Lothario kicked out two tricked out armdrags that you never generally see him do. They worked it just a little more lucha with the push off and rope running, but at the end of the day, the story of the match was Lothario, his ability to seem like the center of the universe in the ring, and those punches. I also checked out Roberts vs Duggan and it was interesting for a few reasons. The first was Roberts' card placement. From our card listings, he was in briefly in 78, and after this match won't be in again until 85. I think he was a nationally established heel by this point, but Duggan was a near top card babyface. It was very much a Jake match, where he does a lot of small things very well but you wonder a bit about the big ones. I love the way he moves in this era, just very premeditated on when he'll lock up and how, stalking around the ring. I liked his selling in the moment but not necessarily long-term. Some of the over the top stooging, especially towards the end of the match, was a bit weird, but I guess that could be because of his opponent. Everything's a little over the top with Duggan, who had all of that manic babyface energy you'd want out of him in late 83. Honestly, my biggest takeaway on this is how much I want to see the 12/30/83 show. That's not me being an ingrate either because I'm glad we got this stuff. It's all about how strong a sell job Boesch does. That's the big post christmas show and probably one of the biggest houses of the year and even though they set records in 83, it had to hit big. He spends a lot of the time in these two matches building it up. Reed vs Lothario is a match that I've overlooked in card-gazing over the last year or two but it sounds awesome. Bracero vs Gordman could be a lot of fun. Mr. Wrestling II vs Bockwinkel's always come off as one of those things that we weren't REALLY going to get, you know? But hey, maybe, and Boesch builds it all up so well, including that at 1919 Caroline, they have ample parking (unlike the rest of the city), will treat you with courtesy, and will have great tickets. Fire up the time machine; I'm sold.

One upside to this is that he is a guy who someone like Sami Zayn (or man, even Tye, right?) could believably chase.